After what likely felt like an eternity of preseason training and intrasquad matches, the Stetson sand volleyball team will finally get a chance to square off against other opponents.
The 2015 season gets underway this weekend as the Hatters host Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, and Eckerd in the Stetson Spring Break tournament.
"We have an especially long preseason, so now that we are finally able to play some matches, we are all really excited," senior Julie Bassett said. "We have all been working really hard, and I think we are all going to perform well. We have a lot of confidence going into the season."
Stetson comes into the season ranked 13th in the nation. The Hatters will be facing a couple of other ranked teams this weekend as FIU is ranked ninth and Florida State is ranked second.
"I am so excited; we have been waiting for months now to play other people," senior Savannah Byl said. "We are hitting two teams in the top 10 (this weekend). It is going to be interesting to see where we are compared to everyone else."
If the Hatters want to move up the national rankings, they will have the opportunity to do so this weekend. Second-year head coach Kristina Hernandez says the veteran make-up of the team lent itself to playing a challenging non-conference schedule.
"Because it is such a seasoned group, it is better for us to start off real strong right away and see how they handle it," Hernandez said. "We are not a team with 10 freshmen, we are a team with 10 seniors. I think we are beyond trying to ease into our schedule."
The Hatters return 14 letterwinners from a team that won the Atlantic Sun Conference title and competed in the AVCA Collegiate Championship. However, Hernandez says the none of the pairs that finished last season together will be together at the start of this season.
"I think we look very different from last year, even though we have so many returning people," Hernandez said. "It is still the same pieces, just put together a little bit differently."
The Stetson Spring Break tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Friday as Stetson hosts Florida Atlantic. After a couple of neutral matches, the Hatters will return to the court at 4 p.m. to face FIU. On Saturday, Stetson will battle FSU in a rematch of last year's AVCA Championship opening round match-up.
After the dual matches are complete, the teams will compete in a pairs tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Admission to all Stetson sand volleyball matches is free. LIve stats for the dual matches will be available on GoHatters.com. Fans can also follow the Stetson sand volleyball twitter feed or subscribe to the HatCheck text messaging system for team updates.
Friday:
10 a.m. - Stetson vs. Florida Atlantic
12 p.m. - Eckerd vs. FIU
2 p.m. - Eckerd vs. FAU
4 p.m. - Stetson vs. FIU
Saturday:
9:30 a.m. - Stetson vs. Florida State
11:30 p.m. - Florida State vs. FIU
1 p.m. - Pairs Tournament
